Ratha Yātrā 1999

Ratha Yātrā (the Chariot Festival) falls on the second day of Āṣāḍha's bright fortnight and is the most spectacular public festival in the Hindu world, centred at Purī (Jagannātha Dhāma) on the Odisha coast. On this day, Lord Jagannātha (the Lord of the Universe), his brother Balabhadra, and his sister Subhadrā are brought out of the Jagannātha Temple and placed on three enormous wooden chariots that are then pulled by thousands of devotees through the Grand Road (Baḍa Daṇḍa) to the Guṇḍicā Temple, 3 km away.

The three chariots are built fresh each year from sacred wood and are named Nandighoṣa (Jagannātha's chariot, 45 feet tall, 16 wheels), Tāladhvaja (Balabhadra's, 44 feet, 14 wheels), and Darpadalana (Subhadrā's, 43 feet, 12 wheels). The chariots are covered in coloured canopies: yellow for Jagannātha, red and green for Balabhadra, and black and red for Subhadrā. Millions of people (formerly from all castes, classes, and now from all nations) pull the chariots with thick ropes.

The festival has a profound theological significance: when Jagannātha leaves the temple on his chariot, he belongs to everyone, not just Brahmin priests. Traditionally the king of Purī (the Gajapati King) sweeps the road ahead of the chariot with a golden broom. Even outcasts and the poor could touch the lord's chariot: a fact noted by Muslim saint Sālabega and Bhakti poet Kabīr, who both wrote devotional verses to Jagannātha. The word "Juggernaut" in English derives from "Jagannātha": a testament to how deeply this procession impressed medieval travellers.